Over recent decades, many western nations have stepped up their efforts to increase secondary school completion rates while maintaining high standards. How systems have approached this, and how successful they are, varies. One of the key differences is in the range of programs that are offered and the different pathways to completion. In some systems there is a menu of separate certificates and qualifications, each tied to a different strand of learning, and each representing a different pathway. In other systems there is a single certificate or qualification, but with structured options producing academic, general, and vocational tracks that work as pathways to different post-school options. This chapter compares some of the different pathways to completion of upper secondary qualifications offered by different countries. What are the main qualifications and pathways? How do they work? For whom do they work? Are they of equal value? Answers to these questions require an evaluation of the various options nations offer students to complete secondary school qualifications. The evaluation needs to consider criteria such as content, rigor and graduation requirements as well as how effectively the different options work to reduce dropout rates and deliver real benefits to those who participate. There is little use providing alternatives to deal with pupil diversity if the alternatives simply function to promote stratification by working as sources of relegation and offering only weak returns. For this reason, it is important to consider the extent to which different pathways are inclusive (who gets included) and promote equivalent standards of learning and outcomes. The discussion begins by comparing school-based pathways across countries, and then moves on to look in more detail first at academic pathways, then at alternatives such as vocational education. Finally, the discussion turns to alternative pathways to completion specifically available to dropouts. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
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